Search engines are known computer-based programs for finding desired information. Various Internet search engines, such as AltaVista and Google, are well known. Other search engines exist for different applications, e.g. search-and-find functions for applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, and data base managers.
Known search engines look for text strings or phrases that match one that is input by a computer user. When a match is successfully made, the known search engine returns a list of “hits” containing the input text string. However, known search engines do not perform well when searching for phrases having missing or incorrectly sequenced information, such as missing words, missing letters, or misspelled words.
When a computer user is attempting to find a desired document based upon a phrase or text string, the computer user may not know the complete phrase and may know only isolated words separated by unknown words. Or the computer user may know all of the words but not know the correct spelling of some or all of the words.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a significant need in the art for systems and methods that support computer-based searching through the utilization of incomplete phrases and phrases containing misspelled words.